Sidetrack: EFA paralells in America

I know, I know right? Two sidetracks in a week. I’m getting bad at this. But this one is really important. It highlights why laws like the EFA are necessary.
Despite believing passionately in free speech rights, I’m a staunch supporter of the electoral finance act, which includes limits on the amount spent on advertising by [...]

We’re all in this together

One of the most frustrating things for me to explain as a feminist and queer rights advocate (and occassional opponent of racism, although as a white male geek I am pretty out of touch on this one, even if one of my family members is in a relationship with a Maori woman) is that injustice [...]

Motherhood issues

The Standard has a good post on how well we’re doing in providing for mothers in New Zealand. (note: The Standard is a partisan blog for the Labour movement, so the post is not politically neutral) Steve notes that New Zealand is ranked the 4th best place to be a mother by the report, (Sweden, [...]

Why Women Have Lots of Opportunities

Uh, sorry, I mean Why Men Earn More. It’s a fascinating read. In the spirit of full disclosure, the author of this article, Warren Farrell, is actually the disenchanted feminist I mentioned back in my primer to men’s rights. He’s certainly on my watch list for future reading. I say it’s a fascinating read- [...]

Gay Rights are Straight Rights

One fact that always seems to be overlooked in the debate over gay rights is that it actually impacts the rights of straight couples, too. Laws that reform the way we view couples to include gay rights- such as our own Civil Unions bill- have generally also extended new rights to straight couples. Not only [...]

Sex education and teen pregnancy

So, last night the issue of permissive attitudes to sex came up in discussion in the comments. A very frequent objection to sex education came up- that it is too permissive of sex, and thus encourages teenage pregnancy.
Fortunately for us, recently the Journal of Adolescent Health released a study on this very matter. Because I [...]

STIs are for men, too

Hey everyone- it’s Feminism Friday! Your choice as to whether that involves bright pink balloons and such- personally, I think pink is an interesting colour, but I know women will get offended if we throw it around all the time. Hence why the blog is mostly blue
Today we cover those invisible little nasties, [...]

More likely to be raped than shot

Feministing has a creepy plug into an article about sexual assault on female soldiers. The article is bad enough on its own, especially with the fact that over 90% of these sexual assaults are being dismissed with little more than slaps on the wrist, but if you check out the reactions to it, there’s an [...]

Better a quitter or a loser?

The Dominion Post is catching up with news from America. Specifically, the controversy over Hillary’s comments to her aides that she’s not going to give in just because the big boys are applying pressure. Personally speaking, I have no issue with the comment- look what people are asking her daughter, for instance, and you’ll see [...]